Gun mount



June 1, 1937.

T. J. HEAVEY 2,081,929

GUN MOUNT Filed Dec. 5, 1934 2 Sheets-Sheet l Inventor 'T'hum'asvd.Heavey Att urney T. J. HEAVEY June I, 1937 GUN MOUNT Filed Dec.5, 1934 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ,mmm/

Inventor Thnmas 1.1-HEEVE y Attnrngy Patented June 1, 1937 Thomas J.Heavey, United States Army, Fort Riley, Kans.

Application December 3, 1934. Serial No. 755,780

Claims.

(Granted under the act of March 3, 1883, as amended April 30, 1928; 3700. G. 757) The invention described herein may be manufactured and usedby or for the Government for governmental purposes, without the paymentto me of any royalty thereon. j -5 This invention relates to 'a gunmount and is animprovement-on the tripod shown in Patent N0."1, 977,629of October-23, 1934. The improvements of this invention are directed tothe features for mounting a gun on the tri- 1'0 pod and are providedfor-the purpose of facilitating the mounting and dismounting of the-gun,and-more conveniently arranging'it for transport on'a pack animalLf I vA further object is to provide traversing and l5 elevating mechanismwhich permit the accurate training of the gun and delivery of fire. i K

To these and other ends, the invention consists in the construction,arrangement and combination of elements described hereinafter and 20pointed out in the claims forming a part of this specification.

' A practical embodiment of the invention is illustrated in theaccompanying drawings, wherelIl' 2'5 Fig. 1 is a View in side elevationof the improved mount with the gun in place thereon.

V i Fig: 2 is a plan view of the mount without the Fig. 3 is a sectionalview through the pintle for 30 the .30 caliber 1 Fig. 4 is a sectionalview through the pintle for the-.50 calibergun.

Fig. 5 is a sectional view through the elevating mechanism.

Fig. 6 is a view on the line 6-6 of Fig. 5.

Figs. '7 and 8 are detail views of the latch.

Fig. 9 is a plan view of the dial.

Fig. 10 is a plan view of .the elevating handwheel.

Fig. 11 is a plan View of the click ring.

The tripod consists generally of a head 5 to which a front leg 6 and apair of rear trail legs ll are pivotally attached.

A traversing bar 8 is attached to sleeves 9-9 45 which are mounted toslide in opposite directions on the trail legs 1-1.

The head is provided with a socket Ill (Fig. 3) adapted to receive abushing H which has a flange l2 overlying the upper face of the head.The margin of the flange I2 is undercut as at l3 to receive the flange Mof a dial l5 which is inscribed with a mil scale IS. The dial is freelyrotatable and to provide for rotation it is equipped 55 with a pluralityof knobs IT. The dial is clamped in any position by means of a bolt I8which passes through the tripod head 5 and has a finger IS on its upperend for engaging the flange M of the dial and a knob threaded on itslower end and capable of being drawn up tightly against the under sideof the head 5.

A housing Zl secured to the under face of the tripod head 5 carries alatch 22 which is arranged perpendicularly with respect to the axis ofthe bushing H. The inner end of the latch is normally maintained withinthe rim of the bushing by means of springs 23 confined between the latchand the housing. The outer end of the latch carries a knob 24 having aninwardly directed finger 25 which underlies the housing when the latchis in operative position and which is adapted to engage the side of thetripod head upon rotation of the knob when the latch is retracted and ininoperative position. Latch 22 has an engaging surface cut on a taper togive a tight wearing joint with peripheral grooves 29 and 30.

-The opening of the bushing is tapered and receives a correspondinglytapered pintle 26 whose upper end includes a yoke 21 which is mounted ona trunnion pin 28 carried by the gun A. The pintle and yoke arepermanently associated with the gun rather than with the tripod as hasbeen the usual practice. For this reason the pintle is formed with apair of peripheral grooves 29 and 30, the upper groove 29 being engagedby the latch 22 when the tripod is primarily intended for the .30caliber gun as illustrated in Fig. 3 and the lower groove 30 beingengaged by a tapered latch I22 when the tripod is of a larger size forthe .50 caliber gun as shown in Fig. 4 in which the parts are similarlydesignated with the prefix of one hundred. The same sized pintle isemployed for both the small and large gun. By virtue of this arrangementit is possible to mount either type of gun on either type of tripod.

The latch 22 has a beveled upper 'surfaceil so that it will be retractedwhen struck by a pintle as the pintle is inserted in the bushing. Whenthe pintle is in place with the base of the yoke resting on the bushingthe latch will enter the proper groove 29 or 30, being urged inwardly bythe springs 23.

The breech end of the gun is associated with the traversing bar 8 by anelevating mechanism comprising an upper screw 32, a lower screw 33 andan intermediate screw 34 threadedly engaging the exterior of the upperscrew and the interior of the lower screw. The upper screw is pivotallyattached to the gun by a bolt 35 and ment between the block and lowerscrew and insures full contact of the block on the bar 8 in allpositions of traverse.

A screw 42 in the block has a lever 43 fixed to its outer end whereby itis advanced into engagement with the bar 8 or withdrawn therefrom.

The upper end of the intermediate screw 34 is formed with a head 44(Fig. to which a handwheel 45 is secured by a machine screw 46. A ring41 having a key 48 fitting in a slot 49 in the upper screw 32 isconfined between the head 44 and the handwheel and is displaced axiallywith the handwheel without partaking of its rotation. A plunger 50 inthe handwheel is pressed by a spring 5| against the notched periphery 52(Fig. 11) of the ring so that, when the handwheel is turned, an audibleclicking sound will be made whereby the gunner is able to count milchanges without referring to the pointer 53 on the ring and the milscale 54 on the upper face of the handwheel. Slot 49 carries engravedscale 49 indicating 50 mil increments of elevation, corresponding to onecomplete turn of handwheel 45.

- Provision against disengaging the upper screw 32 from the intermediatescrew 34 is made by means of a pin 55 carried by the screw 32 and havingon its lower end a washer 56 which is adapted to engage the screw 34.The lower screw 33 carries a flat spring 57 having a lug 58 whichprojects through an aperture 59 in the screw 33 and rides on theexterior thread of the intermediate screw 34 until it snaps into arecess 60. I The spring has a projecting finger-piece 6| whereby it isconveniently grasped to withdraw the lug from the recess.

- 'I'he grip 62 (Fig. 1) of the gun carries a spring clip 63 forretaining the elevating mechanism substantially' parallel to the gun, inwhich position it is protected when not in use.

In mounting the gun on the tripod it is only necessary to insert thepintle in the bushing l I until the latch snaps into place, and to placethe block of the elevating mechanism on the traversing bar 8. Theseoperations are reversed in dismounting the gun.

I claim:

1. In a gun mount, a support, a bushing in the support and having aflange resting on the support, a rotatably mounted dial having aninwardly extending flange on its lower end retained by the flange of thebushing, a bolt passing through the support, a finger on the upper endof the bolt for engaging the inwardly extending flange of the dial, aknob threaded on the lower end of the bolt and capable of being drawn upagainst the support.

2. In an elevating mechanism, a fixed screw having a slot, a screwrotatable with respect to the fixed screw, a two-part handwheel on theupper end of the rotatable screw, a ring housed in and retained by thehandwheel and having a key in the slot of the fixed screw, said ringhaving a notchedperiphery, a plunger carried by the handwheel and inclicking engagement with the notched periphery of the ring.

3. In an elevating mechanism, a fixed screw having a slot, a screwrotatable with respect to the fixed screw, a handwheel on the upper endof the rotatable screw, a ring housed in the handwheel for axialmovement therewith and having a key in the slot of the fixed screw, saidring having a notched periphery, a plunger carried by the handwheel andin clicking engagement with the notched periphery of the ring.

4. A gun mount including a support, a bar on the support, agun-traversing block slidable on the bar and having a vertical face withinterrupted arcuate grooves, a gun on the support, an elevatingmechanism pivo-tally carried by the gun and having a segmental tongueengageable in the arcuate grooves of the block by a rotational motion,and a connection between the block and elevating mechanism for limitingrelative rotational movement.

5. A gun mount including a support, a bar on the support, agun-traversing block slidable on the bar, a gun on the mount, anelevating mechanism pivotally carried by the gun and having a screwmember extending past the block, said member having a limited rotationalconnection with the block.

THOMAS J. HEAVEY.

